Today started really early with a flight out of Grand Rapids, to Minneapolis and later to Seattle. Everything went great and my luggage survived the danger of baggage handlers.

We were biked up at the airport and shuttled to the University of Washington to spend the weekend. The afternoon consisted of meeting dozens of cyclist, registering, unpacking my bike and gear, and sleeping. It was a long day, and going to bed felt great, even though it was on a rock hard mattress.

So many things have gotten me to this point. It fun to think of all the tasks that I have done and its great to see all the planning and logistics that are going to make this a great tour. Things like:

3 months of spin classes twice a week followed up with lots of biking outdoors

Raising over $11,000

Preparing projects at work, amongst other things that'll need to be done in my absence

Constant reassurance that I can actually do this and still want to!

Packing my bike

I feel so good to have done so many things to prepare for this journey. I know there are many other things that I've done and haven't realized also.

Also, it was clear skys flying into Seattle, so we got to see many many mountians. Now in Seattle we can still see them off in the distant. It almost a constant reminder of the struggle ahead to bike over them.